College students keep culture alive & kickin’

With all the imported island entertainment in the Bay Area this month (more about that in my next post), it’s easy to overlook some local keepers of the flame. But in the case of the 19th annual Menlo College lū’au, which takes place this Saturday, March 20, that would be a missed opportunity on several accounts.

A product of the Menlo Park school’s hard-working Hawai’i Club, the student-run lū’au presents a top-notch Polynesian revue (including Maori, Samoan and Fijian dances and chants, as well as Hawaiian numbers) with a professionally catered dinner of the traditional favorites — kalua pig, lomi salmon, chicken long rice, etc. And the students do all that on a large scale worthy of Waikīkī, entertaining hundreds in the suddenly less cavernous Haynes Prim Pavilion.

Kumu hulaMartini Eke returns as choreographer this year, with traditional three-part harmony, Hawaiian falsetto music by alumnus J.D. Puli on ‘ukulele, Ikaika Blackburn on stand-up bass and Alika Souza on six-string acoustic guitar. The head chef of the University of Hawai’i-Mānoa, Philip Shon of Sodexo, will be flying in to prepare the meal, according to Puli, the club’s co-advisor (along with Mary Robins) and vendors will be on hand with island arts and crafts.

Singer, ‘uke player and Menlo College Hawai’i Club co-advisor J.D. Puli

The doors open at 4 p.m., with dinner at 5 p.m. and the show at 6 p.m.; the Hawaiian music will continue to play from 7:30 till pau at 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $40 for general admission, $50 for VIP (including lei greeting, preferred seating and table service), $30 students, $20 Menlo students and children ages 7 to 12 (younger free.) Fill out the online form ASAP (before the end of workday Friday) at www.menlo.edu/luau to reserve tickets.

If you can’t make the lū’au, there’s always the after-party at the British Bankers Club in Menlo Park at 9:30 p.m.; Ka Nalu and Coastal Sage will keep the island vibe going with a reggae beat. Admission is $5 before 10 p.m.; afterwards, it’s $10 for ages 21-plus and $15 for ages 18-20.

Menlo’s Hawai’i Club is “made up of over 40 young men and women from all the Hawaiian Islands, as well as students from the mainland who honor and respect the Hawaiian culture,” according to the official press release. While everyone pitches in to make the lū’au happen, special credit should also go to president Mark Mizoguchi, vice president/kāne alaka’i Kekoa Osurman, decorations chair Kerilyn Yadao and treasurer/secretary Miki Scott. Puli and others have helped other Hawai’i clubs in the area over the years, too — a spirit of cooperation that’s also part of keeping Hawaiian culture alive in the Bay Area.